Arc 1: Chapter 31: Departure, Duty, Dream
“Ready?” Brother Edgar asked. The young priest breathed hard, his pudgy features covered in dirt and sweat, but his expression remained determined.
I nodded, and we both lifted the heavy corpse of Caelfall’s only innkeeper into the pit. It settled into place in the darkness below, half-hidden in the failing light.
The mist had burned away, and the onset of dusk cast the marshes in a somber red light. I stood behind the village chapel with Edgar, and there were already many fresh graves. We were both filthy with gore and mud, and neither of us cared.
We’d survived.
“You didn’t know them,” Edgar said suddenly, as we stared down into the most recent pit. “They were strangers.”
Strange he was asking me now, after we’d been at it most of two days.
I shrugged and grabbed a spade off the ground, starting in on filling the grave. How could I explain it to him? That I was sworn to protect everyone, and I’d failed.
My whole blasted order had failed.
There was work I couldn’t help with and didn’t have time to remain for. The graves needed to be soaked in blessed water. Gravestones had to be carved and set over the mounds, each inscribed with lines of scripture and blessed to draw in the ghosts of the dead and hold them, so they wouldn’t fade or be eaten in the wilderness. It was painstaking work, and the monk might not have the strength.
I didn’t mention as much. I just helped, knowing it wasn’t enough.
After we’d finished the most recent grave, the shuffling of cloth from the edge of the graveyard drew my attention. I turned to see Lisette standing there, clad in the same humble brown robes, a heavy satchel tied to her back. She lingered by the gate.